Each week it is becoming more and more like a ghost town in here eh? I don't know why I bother. But I shall keep doing it don't you worry. Maybe not like clockwork but relatively routinely. If I have anything to say that is.

The weekdays were filled with good and bad moments as per usual. I think I figured out that I actually finish a lot earlier than I anticipated because my subjects don't have an exam during the exam week....at least that is what I hope is what is happening. Because that means I may be able to travel around more, and I will know plenty of people here then to hang out with. HOPEFULLY

I also found out from macquarie that I may not be able to graduate because they are being stupid and bureaucratic. You see as part of the original degree I enrolled in, I had to do four 100 level japanese subjects. This included a vacation unit over the summer, as I was in Singapore I decided not to enrol in it, especially as it didn't have any NCCW (Not Counted for Credit With) subjects attatched in the handbook. However as it turns out they won't let me enrol in it again, because it would be unfair now that I have undertaken 200 level japanese. Gahhhh, so hopefully that will work itself out.

I have been good recently about going to classes, I think this is the third week in a row where I haven't skipped a single class. I was getting worried about how many I was skipping especially since I miss a few when I am on the cruise. So I will keep going until the break I suppose. Speaking of the cruise, I am getting quite excited now that it is getting closer. It seems you aussies are brainwashed by the definition of a "cruise"... seeing as whenever I mention to people (ie Suj and Rachel) that I am going on one they think I mean the harbour type party cruises that you guys go on. No, for the record, this is a REAL cruise. 2 weeks around south east asia.....cannot wait. I can also not wait for some heat, two winters in a row is mighty depressing. No wonder english people are such miserable assholes, it's the weather!

Friday morning I got up bright and early to go finish off the process for my reentry visa that I begun the week before. The bus ride was a nightmare, took so long. and when I got there I just handed in all my documents and literally like 2 minutes later it was done, again to take the 40 minute bus trip to uni. I probably should have gone a little later coz I got to uni 2 hours early for class, so I just sat in the cafeteria and studied for my test.

Friday night Julia knocks on my door and tells me we are going out to sushi. As I had already bought a day pass for the bus that morning I figured it would be a waste if I didn't use it. So we caught the bus to the uni and went to this sushi train place nearby. It was fun, there's a screen where you can order whatever sushi you want, or just take one you like off the conveyerbelt. Also there is a slot where you put the used plates, and when you put 5 plates in you get to play a minigame and if you win you win some little thing to put on a mobile phone.

We had to split up because we were such a big group but I was with Carlos, Magnus, Tia and Milje. It was the first time I had eaten sushi the whole time in being in Japan (outrageous I know) but it was good. I stuck to the simple ones, wasn't very adventurous, but it was good nonetheless. For desert I had this choco-banana pudding thing....it was soooooo good. It tasted like real banana too, not the fake banana crap.

Anyway we each tried to play the mini game but kept losing. We were up to 37 plates by the end, and still had not won. So we ordered 3 extra plates just so we could get a multiple of 5......we were all really nervous when the final game started. We let milje do the honours. It was like a pokie machine, with the spinning pictures that had to match.....so they started, 2 matched, 3rd slowed down. Tension building. and it stopped on the matching picture. We let out a tremendous cheer only to look in horror as it slowly moves one more time. We lost AGAIN. We were livid, we felt cheated out of what was rightfully ours. But soon enough we calmed down and paid and waited outside

We were not content with just going home so we decided to walk/bike around nearby and look for either karaoke or a good bar to go to. Eventually we found a good karaoke, which was like $9 for 4 hours then like $15 for all you can drink for 2 hours. Seemed like a good deal. I didn't give in my ID when they asked being underage and all but I managed to sneak in just fine :P. The room was quite cool, had a stage and everything. It was a lot of fun.

Surprising as it may be, I did not partake in the all you can drink portion of the night overly. I did have a few drinks, but I can say that i didn't go over the top as I have been known to do on occasion. I acted in solidarity with my neighbour Zina who couldn't drink because she had to have her wisdom teeth out the next day. Anyway I saw some people sink low into drunken stupor. Mats in particular was bad (although he was the one who took the photo of my with my head on the table, so I felt slightly victorious) he had his heads in his hands for a while then went off to the toilet to be sick. Carlos and Zenen helped him for a bit, but then when Zina and I went to go find them Mats why by himself on a couch.

We looked for Zenen and Carlos for a bit and then I noticed they were in a different Karaoke room....with these Japanese girls, it was quite weird. We knocked on the door and asked what they were doing. All of a sudden we get invited in too and told to sing mariah carey songs. Eventually though we had to leave though because the people that worked there came and yelled at us to go back to our own room lol.

I lost my voice a lot so I couldn't sing very much more but time was almost up anyway so I went and sat with Mats outside as he was being sick. Inside it turned out that the place was trying to screw us over by saying that we ordered drinks after the "all you can drink" period was over so they charged us more, they also said we had an extra person. I think they assumed because we were foreigners that we would just give up, but they put up a good fight. Eventually though we couldn't be bothered and just paid it.

Meanwhile as I was outside with Mats, Thomas came out and he was hilariously drunk, like stumbling around and stuff. Apparently this was the first time he has ever been drunk. I watched him and asked him if he was ok which he yelled at me to "not treat him like a drunk". He then tried to get on his bike....I told him not to....but he did anyway. He rode 1 metre then fell off onto the ground. So i promply took his keys away and made him sit down like a child.

Leaving, Gavin and his friend offered to ride Mats' and Thomas' bikes home as they were clearly incapable. I took them with me in the taxi back home. On the way Mats started retching. The taxi driver freaked out and got him to get out then was yelling at me asking me if he had been sick inside at all, which he hadnt. But we got home eventually and I took Mats to his room. By this time it was like 4 in the morning and when the bikers came home I hung out with them for a few minutes in the kitchen. Zenen and Zina recounted how JeongJu crashed her bike over a ledge and fell on her face, they were sure they would be making a trip to the hospital, but she was ok luckily. We were waiting for her to come out of her room and when she never showed we got a bit worried.

Zina and I went into her room and found her lying sideways across her bed with all her clothes and jewellery on. We woke her up but she wouldn't move, so I had to pick her up and forcibly put her on her pillow while Zina took her coat and earrings off.

Saturday was pretty quiet as lots of people had bad hangovers, not me though. I woke up fresh as a daisy. It was nice.

Sunday was a nice day, sunny after so many days of rain. I went to the supermarket and had a walk around a bit. Other than that though I didn't do much at all. I have a big test this week that I studied for and I also did my laundry, not very exciting stuff. Tomorrow I have to go to uni at 9 (even though my class doesnt start until 1) because there is a "Pre-Departure Meeting"

I have no idea why it is so early but I have to go. It's also kinda depressing to think that it's almost over. Zina said she would cry lol.

Anyway that was the week that was. Tune in next week for more

TALES OF INTEREST

Love, Jono

Ok well I am only posting because I promised I would, but this one will be super duper short because I haven't done much.

Thursday was American Thanksgiving, and being an international house, the americans in our house (particularly Zenen) decided to throw a marvelous thanksgiving feast. After school Taku's mum and sister drove the car from Osaka where they live to take Taku, Zenen and Zina shopping for food. Meanwhile I stayed behind and pealed so many potatoes to make a huuuuge bowl of mashed potatoes.

So anyway the dinner was set for 7:30 and they came back with food to prepare at 5:30.....this is where the teamwork had to kick in. We had about 10 of us working nonstop to try and get everything done, seasoning and putting chicken in the oven, making salad, making pumpkin soup, peeling apples and making apple pie, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, bean salad. One of my menial tasks was to whip cream, not fun at all but I always get stuck doing it.

Surprisingly we got everything done on time and we took it all downstairs. Ashley had set up a hand-turkey drawing station....it was funny. Mrs Morita didn't understand what to do and she made hers into an elephant....looked so much better than a turkey anyway :)

Anyway the food was soooo good, it was so filling and yum. I at bits of everything and there was just enough for everyone. Then we hung around and chatted and Taku's mum came back carrying a guitar and this okinawan instrument that looked like a shamisen. Then taku and his sister dressed in traditional okinawan yukatas and he SANG and played the intrument thingo.....i've heard him sing in english quite...badly, but in Japanese he was really good. He sang Shima Uta which is quite a catchy song from....Okinawa!

Friday after school I planned to go with Tori and Amy to the immigration office to get a reentry visa for when we go on our cruise. Tori said the place closed at 5 so we needed to go rather quickly....we waited for amy for a long time but turns out she was eating (selfish bitch! :P) Then when we got to the busstop she realised she forgot to bring her passport (Sigh)....so we went home, got the passport and got on the bus. Finally we got there at 10 to 5 rushed up. Turns out it actually closed at 4....gahhhhh. Nevertheless we managed to knock on the door and ask for a form so it wasnt a total waste.

Saturday I cleaned my room because I had anticipated my friend coming to stay (don't read so much into this paragraph ben). I was planning on going out to karaoke with her and her friends but being clumsy stupid me as I was getting my washing from downstairs I tripped up the stairs and twisted my ankle and stubbed my toe. I had to hobble back to my room and sit down. So i texted her saying I couldn't come. And then she never turned up. Next day turned out she was out to really late so couldnt really make it here. Stood up eh lol. Down 1000 yen too.

Sunday I also planned to go to Nara with Tori and Amy but again it was too uncomfortable to walk, so i didnt.

That's it

Hey guys, sorry for my hiatus. Last weekend I did pretty much nothing worth writing about and this weekend I have been quite tired so no motivation to write.

So yeah school is getting very monotonous, but I have entered week 8 which means I am on the downward stretch already, it also marks the halfway point for my whole exchange trip. Now that I am closer to being in Sydney than when I arrived I am getting a bit homesick, the whole halfway blues thing. If you think about it I will be back before your holidays end, so in a sense that's not very long at all. I am expecting all of you to leave between the last week and fortnight of your holidays completely free because I will be wanting to do a heck of a lot with you guys to make up for lost time.

So yea uni was the same (I will probably stop starting with this line because it never changes)....but yea friday night the house was so empty. Lots of people went on a trip to Kyushu to stay at our Partner University campus in Beppu. I was not really interested very much because they actually went to lectures and stuff (most of them just went to get a trip to Kyushu). Instead we invited German Vanessa over and got her to bring some wine. Anne made Gluwein (Sp?) which is a hot german spiced wine, very christmassy, delicious. So people were drinking and having fun (I was not drinking this time either though) It was lots of fun.

One by one people went to bed until Me, Tori, Vanessa and Ben remained in the kitchen.....they were quite drunk and Tori and Ben got into quite a heated argument. It was a bit scary. They were swearing in the hallways and stuff.

Next day people were having a hangover sleep in, I meanwhile got up at 10 fresh as a daisy and the house was sooooo quiet, it was kinda creepy. Eventually though I heard the familiar screams of children because my manager's grandchildren were staying with them again. They're so cute, they always say hello to us in slow Japanese thinking we are crazy gaijin that can't understand them.

I couldn't sleep on Saturday night for some reason so was up until like 3 listening to music and talking to Malishka lol....needless to say it was horrible. I woke up at 11 by Anne breaking into my room to find out why I wasn't ready to leave. So i quickly got ready and we caught a bus with Anne and Tori to the station, caught a train to Umeda station in Osaka and stumbled around looking for the Umeda Sky Building (which was in the Amazing race wooooo) I mean we assumed it would have to be close to Umeda station and we could SEE it, we just couldn't figure out how to get there.

Finally after asking cops we found it and were greeted by the gates to the Christmas market. It was rather lame, but I guess how many german people could there be in Japan, I think all of them were at that market. Anne was having a good time though, she had to take lots of photos and interview people because she was writing an article for her student newspaper back in germany. So we walked around and it started to rain and the girls wanted to go shopping so we went to this big department store and walked around looking at the crazy english Tshirts which don't make sense (never gets old)

We got to the top and had lunch, I had Teriyaki chicken, it was awesome. I also found a shop and bought Mi Goreng, I was so happy :)

Afterwards we decided to go to the Harbour and see if the aquarium was worth taking a look at. We got there and it wasn't too expensive so we decided to go for it. The aquarium itself didn't have a lot of exhibits but there was a huge tank with 2 whale sharks in it. There was also a manta ray and these huge spider crabs. Nothing you ever see at Sydney aquarium, it was cool. There was also a petting tank to touch stingrays and sharks, rays feel like slimy jelly, and the sharks are like sandpaper.

By the time we left it was getting late and we were tired, but Anne wanted to go back to the chrismtas market again to see it at night. So we went back. Then we left to go back to Kyoto, our feet were soooo tired but we had to stand the whole train ride back. Hell

So we got back and went straight to bed

and that was my weekend. Hope you all are well

I will be back on Sunday/Monday. I promise :P

In order to be consistent ben, I followed your thinly veiled threat and yes I am posting, but this has been a very slow week so it will not be a long entry at all.

True to what I predicted in the last entry, I developed a cold. Monday morning I was starting to feel the effects of it so I wore a mask to school. My friends all made fun of me, and I didn't really need it but I figured where else in the world can you wear a face mask and blend in perfectly. The Japanese people on the bus didn't even give me a second glance. Whereas if I was at home there would be a mass exodus of any public transport I was on.

I managed to make through Monday and Tuesday reasonably well, Wednesday morning I woke up and felt crap so I skipped my 9am class and went to the next one because I had to be a part of a panel for my United Nations class for the topic of "Should the United Nations Security Council be reformed?"....my argument was not very strong, but I got through it fine enough.

However by Wednesday night I was coughing and sneezing like crazy yet I still intended to go to class the next day, did all the homework and everything. However I woke up on Thursday and I really could not get out of bed. So all day I stayed in bed with my trusty laptop. Friday was much of the same just home all day. In those 2 days I think I maybe ate 1 piece of toast, so of course I was wasting away. Saturday I still felt pretty bad but I really needed to go to the supermarket so I made the trek down and bought enough food to last me a while.

That night while some people went to Osaka to go clubbing, I stayed home with a few of the usual gang and made Maultaschen (my spelling is probably terribly wrong) it is basically like huge German ravioli....we made the dough and everything it was a lot of fun, and it was so delicious too. So we stayed up for ages talking but I was getting weary so I went to bed about 1ish.

Today was another lazy day, I was feeling much better this morning after JJ the Korean girl gave me some weird pills that I, of course, swallowed without question. I had to catch up on the work that I missed from being away. Pretty boring

So yea, thats pretty much it.

Later days

ok sorry that I am ONE DAY LATE....sheesh, anyone would think I was charging you all to read this damn thing.

So yes my week began on tuesday when I went to the city to buy a halloween costume....We went to this big shop that had lots of things to choose from, then we found the hat wall. OMG so many hats, and needless to say there were so many photos taken of us wearing said hats. I was particularly enamoured with the one shaped like an icecream cone, because it was one of the only ones that fit, so I bought it. Meanwhile Zenen bought the fish hat, and we tried to get Jeong Ju to buy a crab hat....she was so sad but we persuaded her. Afterwards she said to me:

"I think I made a mistake, I wanted to be cute, not funny....This is my only halloween and my dream was to be a princess, a crab wasn't my dream"...

it was hil.ari.ous......as was trying to get flora to be a cake, she was sooooo angry because we wouldn't drop it haha, but she got it in the end

A recurring theme in these blogs seems to be the consistancy in which i make a total ass of myself. This time it was something new, I was catching the bus home after buying my hat, when I fell asleep and woke up just near my stop....and I got off, WITHOUT TAKING THE HAT......i realised as soon as I got off, but it was too late by then.

The next day I walked to the bus depot, which isn't too far from where I lived and asked them if they had it, but my Japanese must be atrocious because they had no idea what I was saying....I promptly gave up. LUCKILY I tried again the morning of the halloween party (friday) and a woman was there who spoke english so it was much easier to describe having lost an icecream shaped hat.

My friend Clarice from Macquarie also decided to pay us a visit from Nagoya for the night, so we got her a ticket to the party too.

The party itself was lots of fun, although it went for like 2 hours.....such a shame. There was all you can eat/drink. Zina my neighbour who is also underage encourages me to illegally drink with her....and you could say I caved to peer pressure :P....although I was much more responsible, I have definitely learned from past mistakes (although maybe not enough, but that is to come)

The room itself was so hot, especially in my hat....but it was definitely a huge hit. I had lots of photos taken with my by people I had never met before.....Javi the spanish guy who lives in my dorm also professed that he would like to eat me because I am so "smooth, cool and creamy". hahaha

After the party we all gathered at the uni to decide where to go next, some of us wanted to go to karaoke, so off we went. The room was bloody small, but again free drinks, which seems to be my downfall. It was quite fun and I went pretty hoarse from all the singing, afterwards I was so tired that me and Clarice headed home.....although once we got there some people who didnt go to the party were still up (and hilariously drunk)......so we hung out with them talking.....at this point I was still pretty good, then I had a glass of wine.....kinda the straw that broke the camels back. I felt like I was going to be sick, but I wasn't, and I managed to run away to my room when the others were distracted

Saturday was a hangover day, didn't do anything. Nobody go up until early-mid afternoon and even then the were not in much of a doing anything mood.....that night we had some people over and had a cocktail party downstairs. I did not partake in the alcoholic cocktails you would be glad to know....the mocktails they made me were pretty damn delicious though.

Sunday we decided to bike to Arashiyama which is pretty much this touristy, old place....really beautiful though. Problem was it started to pour as we got there so we had a picnic under a nice tree. We also saw a wedding taking place, I felt so bad for them. We walked around some shops for a while and through a cool bamboo forest then headed home after a few hours.......I got absolutely drenched, which brings me to the final point

I am sick

Although it might be getting a lot better before it really got bad, I have been gargling this awful medicine as well as wearing face masks. the masks themselves are pretty unnecessary but I figured, where else in the world could I wear a mask without being stared at constantly......I was rocking it too

so there you have it. I am contemplating taking day off to recouperate seeing as I have a busy/early wednesday. Talk to you anon

jono

Hey, most likely only Ben....or Malishka if I tell her about it.

This weekend was pretty kickass, although now I am sick so this coming week might not be so crash hot. But let me tell you about it shall I......

For once something interesting actually happened on a weekday this time. I don't exactly remember which day it was, but it was at lunchtime and we were standing around the foreigner benches as we have dubbed them....when this woman came up to my friend Anne and asked her if she knew any guys who could be male models or something along those lines......I was just standing there while they pondered, waiting.....still waiting.....then she left. Needless to say I was highly offended. Eventually though she ended up talking to the douchy american tool.

A few minutes later a camera crew came and there was a big commotion. Apparently some "famous" comedian came and was pretty much making fun of the foreigners.....so he talked to a few of them who had better Japanese skills, and then promptly left. So that was the most interesting thing during the school week.

So anyway I thought Friday night would be pretty quiet because noone had told me of any plans to go out or anything. So I made some spaghetti and ate it in my room....about half an hour later however I get a call on my room phone from one of the damn swedes, Julia, asking me if I wanted to go out to dinner with them......I could not turn it down. So we walked down to an all you can eat, cook yourself type place.....it was really nice, and as it was just Me, Tori, Julia, Amy and Zenen it was pretty good. We ate a lot in the 70 minutes they alotted us, definitely worth it, we want to go there again sometime.

Julia and Tori straight away began drinking wine and beer at dinner. You could tell right away that Julia was getting drunk because she began to talk loudly about very inappropriate and sexual things at the dinner table. It was hilarious. After dinner was over we walked home and headed to the kitchen to hang out. Eventually more people came and brought more drinks (but this time I actually abstained from booze, to prove I am not a total alcoholic).....We were trying to find the Korean girl Jeong Ju's limit....but she';s a total beast and didn't even seem the slightest bit drunk.

Saturday I think I didn't wake up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon/.....pretty much did nothing for the rest of the afternoon until the super awesome houseparty at night. I had made lamingtons a few nights previously, which was quite a feat mind you as we don't have an oven......So I used the oven setting on the microwave to bake a cake, it was very interesting.....anyway the party was really fun. Mr and Mrs Morita made Takoyaki....it was so good.....everyone had brought food, it was all delicious, I was so full by the end. Then Tori had made a trivia contest....guess who's team won by the way....that's right, it was MINE.....booyeah!!!.....didn't win anything though, just the satisfaction of winning. After that Freddie did a card trick for us, his magic is becomming a common thing at parties now, it's really cool.....i still maintain that he is a witch.

Today I was supposed to go to a baseball game of our university vs our rival....however I woke up this morning with a really bad headache and sore throat and was coughing quite badly, so i decided not to go and just take it easy at home. Anne made me some sort of german pastry, it was yummy. Other than that I didn't leave my room once coz I was feeling quite crap

So here I am, I have to do some more study now. I apologise for the shoddy and rushed appearance of this entry, but I want to get in as much study and hw as I can so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. For you see this week I have to get up early 3 days a week because I am rostered on to garbage duty with my neighbour Milje.....bah, no sleeping in tomorrow :(

Hope you all are well, hopefully more people are reading it now that I am more consistent with my posting

Miss you all still very much

Jono

Hey y'all,

I am making good on my promise to update this blog when I can. Right now I should be doing homework, especially as I chose to stay home instead of going out in order to do it. So I will get back to it as soon as I'm done with this. So yea, nothing really knew going on at uni, classes are hard, but workload isn't as bad as I was expecting. I definitely feel that my japanese is improving, although I still struggle with speaking. Often times people will talk to me in Japanese and I understand what they are saying, but I can't express what I want to say. That obviously makes me seem like I don't understand at all. So that is what I'd like to do. I'm going to keep trying to talk japanese as much as I can because that is definitely my weakness at the moment.

I also do 2 english language subjects once a week which is a big relief, as I am able to express my opinions properly. First one I do is the UN. I think it is quite interesting, but the teacher is a bit boring. He likes to talk about his own credentials with the UN a lot, but every second week we have a bit of a panel debate.....and because half the class is japanese and I guess aren't confident enough with their english it makes it easier to speak up.....so I hope that helps with my confidence in class when I come back home.

The other subject I do is called International Peace Studies. Surprisingly it is actually pretty good. It is run by a Danish professor who is head of some big peace foundation, he has also been all over the world so he definitely knows what he is talking about. So we learn about peace funnily enough. Last week was the Gandhian ideal of nonviolent resistance.

Anyway, monday I finally got my bike fixed after leaving it at the school. I was so happy because I was able to converse with the bike shop owner enough that he knew what to do, and he would ask me questions that I could answer. However it became apparent that my bike really is a piece of crap. I needed a whole new tyre and he kept asking me if I wanted the pedals or the brakes fixed too....but all together I could have bought a new used bike for the same price.....maybe I should have instead.

The worst thing though is, I spent that money on fixing it, and now I have lost the damn key! So I haven't been able to ride the damn thing. I have looked all over my room and I can't find it anywhere. But it has to be in the house somewhere because I needed it to lock my bike outside. It is very frustrating.

Friday night it was a girl called Yuka (who doesn't live with us) 's birthday so we went down to the river. There were heaps of international students there, it was quite cool because I don't know all of them. Anyway one of the buddies, Junko, came and took a few of us to her "special place", which is an izakaya in some creepy back alley. (an izakaya is basically like a bar)......so anyway the deal was we would have nomihoudai (all you can drink) for one hour and it only cost 1000 yen, which is about 12 dollars i think.....so yea cheeeeeap as

Unfortunately I may have taken advantage of this offer a bit too much, I lost count of all the various tequila and vodka drinks I had but it was a lot nonetheless, and I got a bit loud and annoying from what I can remember. Luckily for me an Australian girl called Amy got most of the ridicule when she puked in the sink......so she was our House's drunk of the week instead of me. I also don't remember coming home, but people have told me that we took a taxi back and they took me to bed.....so at least I live with some nice, responsible friends here. A lot like back home :)

So yea that was a bit regrettable and I think I may keep it on the backburner for a bit, lest I make a complete ass of myself.

Yesterday I felt so crap too, headache, felt like I was going to be sick....so I just lay in most of the day. I had to go shopping so I went and did a massive shop at the supermarket, other than that didn't get much done. Which brings us to today, again nothing being done....must get back to homework.

So I'll catch y'all later

Jono

hey stupid douchefaces,

not really sorry for not posting much. Speaking of which you sound like my parents always nagging me for news (thanks to you ben btw). My posts of late would have just been: Went to uni today, same old stuff, went to the supermarket, went to bed. My life really isn't that interesting during the week.

Oh and also, if you damn read them can you comment or something.....it's all well and good to say you check, but if I don't know anyone is reading until they start bitching at me, puts me off from posting a bit. I am trying to figure out a better notification system. Facebook got a bit tedious and my sister has my msn so I can't think of anything other than just habitual checking. So shut your damn gobs and quit complaining.

ANYWAY, now that I actually have stuff to talk about I shall divulge. Apart from the usual weekday numbness that comes with university studies anywhere in the world. Friday night it was decided that we would go to Lake Biwa on the Saturday for a picnic. For those of you who don't know Lake Biwa is a lake....a pretty big one (unless Im mistaken it's the biggest in Japan)....anyway I shall get to that. So on friday night a whole bunch of us were in the upstairs kitchen helping to make sandwiches for the trip. Egg Salad and Ham an Cheese, I was a big help....if I do say so myself.

During the sandwich prep, someone opened a bottle of wine, probably Amy. Now this may not even relate to that fact at all (especially as I didn't have any) but Julia said she would clean up the dishes if we all sang Queen for her. A choir rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody ensued, top of our lungs type thing.....people were drawn out of their rooms to inquire, strangely the landlords or the house buddies didnt come to tell us to shut the hell up.

Another bright idea during this period was to go down to the basement and make use of one of the ofuros (baths) that we have in the house. And before you ask/have horrible nightmares.....we were clothed, at least somewhat....I turned a pair of my pyjama pants into shorts....everyone else wore swimming costumes. I think 7 people was the most we could fit in the bath, and it was damn hot (temperature wise you sickos)....but afterwards we were all so relaxed and tired, but we decided to play monopoly anyway.......I had to argue a lot, because people have stupid rules.....but anyway I couldnt finish coz I was so tired, I just went to bed.

Next day I got ready to go to bike to the train station with the gang. I tried to pump up my bike tires but it turns out they werent just flat, there was probably a small hole in it somewhere. So I figured I would just try to put up with it on the 5 minute trip to the station. I put the sandwiches in my backpack and we were off.......less that 20 metres from leaving, I realised the tyre is a big problem, my whole bike was wobbling like crazy, had to concentrate so hard just to stop myself from veering into oncoming traffic. And this wasn't just because I am terrible at riding my bike regardless.

Eventually through all this concentration i lost everyone who was in front of me.....it was just me and Yeiji from korea, and we didnt know which fork in the road they took so we guessed (take a stab at whether it was right or not)......so luckily Yeiji is practically fluent in japanese so she would keep asking people how to get to the station and they all said it was far. So i got off and walked my bike until we finally got to the station, but noone was there. We went inside and asked the ticket guy if any foreigners had been there.....he said they were there but left and he didnt know where. So we didn't know what to do, without phones or anything we didnt have any ideas, so we decided just to go home......when out of nowhere we here "THERE THEY ARE".....turns out they were looking for us (or the sandwiches in my bag I don't really know)

Train trip there was pretty good, took about an hour but we made it eventually......walked over to the "beach" and it was getting a bit windy and cold, but we didn't care.....we ate and talked it was a lot of fun. On the lake we saw these guys on jetskis, we kept waving at them and Yeiji said she wanted to have a go on one....although with her limited english it came out as "Ride me!"....which needless to say was HILARIOUS.......but yea japanese people are so nice we waved them over and offered them fruit and yeiji asked if she could have a go.....so they let her.....then Joc, Julia and Amy all had goes....we could hear them all screaming from shore, it looked great. We left and went home and were so tired we just went to bed.

So today I went to Kyoto station to meet none other than Ashleigh who was in town. It was good seeing a familiar face for the first time in a month. She had been on tours and stuff and said she just wanted to walk around the places you wouldn't ordinarily go to. So as I needed to get my bike fixed anyway I thought we'd kill two birds with one stone. We picked up my bike from the pharmacy car park where I left it the night before and attempted to walk it to the bike shop near my uni. Ordinarily it should take about 30 minutes, however I think I took the long route, and it took an hour and a half lol....but the walk was nice enough.

Anyway when we finally get to the bike shop it was freaking closed, so I just dumped my bike in a bike park nearby and decided I'd go back tomorrow when I'm at uni anyway. We were hungry so we decided to catch a random bus to anywhere,....turned out it was to Shijo Kawaramachi, which is the big shopping area....the bus was damn packed though. I think it was a special festival day or something because there were lots of parades....and more traffic than usual. The bus trip was horrible, so long. We said we just felt like something fatty and gross to eat........ENTER MACDONALDS......oh yes, my first maccas in over a month. We were so hungry (having had nothing all day) that we went to town on that place.....we probably undid all our walking in one sitting but it was so worth it. Anyway we then walked back to the station and I got on my bus to come home to do *sigh* homework :(

So that's my fun filled weekend. I shall post more when I actually do something....so keep checking....and actually comment something so I know who's reading. Idiots.

Love Y'all :D

Jono

Ok this one goes out to Mr Suji D, I hear you wanted more blogs.......Ask, and it shall be delivered.

The string of public holidays has come and gone (with me having very little to show for it) and it happened to coincide with the hottest day i've encountered so far here, damn sun. Well today was the normal mix of mind numbing boredom and horrible painful fear.

The fear came first with my placement interviews.....had to get to uni really early for no reason when the damn thing only took half the time it was scheduled to. The actual interview was even worse. My japanese totally abandoned me. However I have resigned myself that i will probably get placed into the bottom class, which is ok because I will learn something regardless.....seeing as there is freaking 12 hours of japanese a week (that is more than my entire week was last semester) on top of that i have to do 2 more subjects in english which I havent decided yet. There is some sort of Australia-Japan subject which I suppose I should take.

Ok breaking the fourth wall somewhat, just heard a scream from the hallway went to investigate, turns out there was a huge spider in my neighbours room.....like huntsman size. Caused a big commotion through my entire corridor, hopefully mr morita doesnt get mad at us for making noise.....kurimata, our house buddy killed it with a magazine though.

So anyway after the stupid interview, Tori, Zenen, Amy and I went on a trip to Mos Burger......really nice burgers, too small though and too expensive. The walk was nice though, even though I did almost get sunburned again.

rest of the day was booooooring......almost fell asleep in the computer guidance session, and i was sweating profusely on the library tour coz the damn place is so hot. Tried to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

Other than that my days have been more or less spent here at the house. My room has become a pigsty again so soon after i cleaned it. Tomorrow I am going to the ward office again, only this time i am biking it there.....I am so scared, I have never actually gone on a public road yet :S....I really hope I dont die.

Anyway ja mata ne

Jono

Ok so guess what, my specially shipped adapter arrived yesterday so I write to you now from my room instead of the computer room downstairs.

So anyway yesterday was a really long day, it all started when Julia and Magnus wanted to go to Ikea because they are Swedish and they were craving their national food. So they asked one of the buddies, Junko, if she wanted to show them how to get there because Junko is obsessed with Sweden lol. Then it turned into a big trip to Osaka for everyone lol.

So I got up begrudgingly at 9 oclock to go and get ready. Today was "Respect for the aged day" so Mr and Mrs Morita's grandchildren were over visiting them.....they are super cute. Something about Japanese old people and children is just so cute i dont know. So anyway we bused and trained our way to Osaka and then went and had lunch. I couldn't go to Osaka without eating takoyaki which are octopus balls, very nice. We ate at one of the most famous takoyaki places apparently.

After that the Swedes wanted to go to Ikea so I stayed with Jocelyn, Joelle, Gavin, Yeji and Jeong Joo to check out the city a bit. Man it was so crowded, it was rediculous. Jocelyn went to go have her hair cut so I looked around the shops by myself a bit. When she was done we went to all these shops and to starbucks to have a drink lol. Oh and we also took some sticker photos sigh

After a few hours we met up with the rest of the gang and headed home. So yea i realise now it doesnt seem like I did very much haha, but year we didnt get back until about 10 and it was a good day overall.

Photos are on facebook if you havent seen already

Ok just a quick one again,

Party last night was good. Mr and Mrs Morita, my landlords, went out and bought us some awesome food. They made us okonomiaki, which is kinda like an omelette thing which was really good. They also bought lots of alcohol but because I am only 19 mr morita kept coming up to me and asking what was in my cup lol.

It was mostly just talking to everyone which was good, got to know some people a bit better. everyone is really nice so I am happy living here. Still it hasnt even been a week, so much more to go and I still miss home ;D

So yea I was going to take some photos at the party but i forgot to charge my camera lol, but hopefully once i add people on facebook I will steal some for you guys to see everyone. Imanaged to take some of my newly tidied room....so once my adaptor that has been specially sent from australia, arrives I will upload them so you can see where I live.

today seems to be the quiet day, I woke up at 12 for some reason, I hope that doesnt carry on to when I have to go to class next week. Yesterday I went for a huge walk, about 3 hours all together because I Ｇｏｔ a little bit lost to haha, but yea Igot a nasty sunburn on the back of my neck. I really need to buy some sunscreen today, as well as some groceries I think.

Anyway I may go do that now

Laters
Jono

Wow so its saturday morning and I got to sleep in which was nice because last night I was so drained of energy, I actually went to bed at 10.....isnt that weird, even in Sydney time thats before midnight. I could hardly believe it. However my bed isnt the most comfortable to sleep in and that might explain why i am tired a lot. Today my shoulders and back are sore from sleeping. I suppose i will have to just get used to it eh.

Yesterday was the second useless day of orientation. Placement test did not go very well. Listening wasnt very good at all, I expected them to read the questions out twice, but they only did it once so I missed out on a lot of stuff i think. The writing section wasnt too bad, it was split up into three sections that ascended in difficulty. I managed to do the first part fine which was very encouraging at the time, the second section was a bit hit and miss and the third part was terrible.

Other than the placement tests, the rest of the day was pretty useless. There was a welcome (ie free) lunch held in some room. There was some nice food there and I just ate as much as I could so i wouldnt have to buy any food later. We also had a doctor come from the medical centre to talk to us about measles, TB, HIV and swine flu.....OooOoOoOooh. And then they gave us free facemasks, handwash, tissues and wetwipes.....so score i guess lol.

THEN the lady from the coop came and was talking, we had to fill out this rediculous for just to sign up for the coop. So confusing. The one thing I have learned about Japan is it is all about the beaurocratic red tape rediculousness. So many forms for everything. Campus tour was next, which didnt help me at all because I will still not be able to find my way around I dont think.

Tonight should be good though. Our landlords are throwing us a welcome party now that everyone has arrived so we only have to put in 1000yen each and they go out and buy the food and drinks.

Anyway noone else is up and its already 10:30 which is suprising. A lot of them went out drinking last night in Kyoto so I guess they are still recovering.

I shall catch y`all later

Jono

a journey of 1000 miles.....

Today was first day of orientation, let me tell you....so freaking stupid and took all day too, what a load of crap.

again woke up at 7:30 scared that my phone was going to be the wrong time for some reason so went out and it turns out it was the right time after all, who knew right? well noone else was up so i went and had a shower, check emails and then went to the kitchen. Some of the guys were already up and cooking eggs and whatever, i have still yet to attempt cooking in the communal kitchen yet....i bought some spaghetti yesterday that i will have to use one time, especially since the bananas that i bought yesterday have gone brown overnight and i had to chuck them out. Other than that I have custard cakes and cookies in my fridge to ease hunger pangs when they occur.

By about 8:30 we were all congregating in the genkan and split into bike people and bus people.....iright now i am still a bus person, even though it costs almost 6 dollars a day and its not that far away......problem with bike though, especially for someone so noob like me, is that although kyoto is mostly pretty flat, there happen to be 2 hills between my dorm and the uni....sob

so anyway we all met at the uni and went and got some introductory crap lots more papers to file away.....then they spoke for ages about general stuff and by then it was lunch time so we went off the cafeteria. which is super nice btw, lots of nice stuff. after lunch was our entrance ceremony which was just 2 super suck up nerds who volunteered to read speaches in japanese....they sounded like total wankers talking about 'trying our best' and 'striving to achieve common goals'....vomit

then we had people from the police station come ttalk to us.......these four old ladies (who were super cute) were talking about how to hold your bag to avoid it getting snatched.....kinda stupid like we dont know that already. then the police's judo trainer was teaching us self defense moves.......he said the best way to get people to help you isnt to yell HELP but to yell FIRE.

then there was the earthquake simulator which was majorly disappointing....it was just some truck that shook a bit, i didnt even go on it....me and some of the other I-House peeps decided to ditch it and go home.

So here I am, I have one more day of orientation tomorrow, which includes my placement tests :S......but then after that is weekend and then 3 public holidays in a row and they dont hold orientation, so i will be off until next thursday for 2 more days of orientation, classes start the monday after.

So i suppose without my bloody laptop working i will be bored as blah......my dad said he would send an adaptor for me seeing as im having no luck here....oh well

later days

Jono

Practice makes perfect

Hey all again from the land of the rising sun, I have to be a bit quick in writing this one because I think some people want　me to go out to dinner with them, so i will keep it short.

Last night was pretty good, it was a girls birthday so they were having a party and it was a good way to introduce myself. I discovered that there are a lot of australians here but there is also a lot of people from sweden. Theyre all nice, as is everyone, but i think the australians and the swedes are going to have to have a battle for I-House II supreme domination.

Anyway today I woke up extra early out of fear of not waking up at all....had a shower, checked emails/facebook/blog etc then met up at the entrance to go catch our bus.......again made more of a douche of myself when i put the money in the wrong slot on the bus. But the bus drivers are so polite i think i left without paying accidentally several times but they didnt say anything.

I had my first look at my uni today too....its quite nice. Kinda confusing, i think i may get lost at first. I had to register for all this different stuff which was a lot of paperwork and then we had to catch a train to the ward office to hand it all in.

The group i was with were rather cool....some swedes, some americans. some koreans, and an aussie called freddie who actually goes to mac in his 4th year of business/accounting......he is really good at jap too, makes me feel quite inferior but i suppose he did do it as continuers in high school so theres a leg up on me.

anyway we got to the office and were waiting for aaaaaaages, turns out we have to go AGAIN, but theyre not open on weekends or public holidays and orientation starts tomorrow so i have no idea when i am going to find the time to go!!! blarg

yea after we got home we all decided to go ｏｕｔ and do some shopping for things we forgot. I bought some groceries and an internet cable.....but i couldnt find a freaking adaptor so i cant use my laptop.....bloody good use it was bringing that then wasnt it!......we also went to mcdonalds briefly and sat to chat and have a drink....i learned that swedes like theyre coffee very very strong.

anyway i have to go now......i may post more in the comment section if i have time later.

hope you are all having a good time. Send me an email if you get bored, i enjoy hearing from you. Otherwise post a comment below

wuv
Jono

Arrivals

Hey all,
I arrived at my dorm about an hour ago and I am already really homesick.....I hope that passes soon because I don`t want it to be like this for 5 months!

So now I shall recount how I got to here.....Went through Sydney airport security like a total douche, left my tickets and all my money at the security guy....not a good start. Then i guess I looked suspicious so　I got felt up by a guy looking for explosives. At this point I had a bit of a niggling sniffle.

So i get on the plane to KL and theres an empty seat between me and this nice malaysian man, so i got to stretch out a bit.....HOWEVER, my freaking seat did not recline so I was stuck in the most uncomfortable position trying to sleep all the while having a cold that had run rampant. Landing at KL was a nightmare too, my ears COULDNT cope with the pressure and now it seems I am deaf on my right side. KL airport is super boring.....I tried to use the free internet terminals but they wouldn:t work (thanks a lot samsung)

I also had to hide my ＤＥＴＥＲＩＯＲＡＴＩＮＧ health ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ all i saw was Ｓｉｇｎｓ saying IF YOU FEELUNWELL CONSULT US IMMEDIATELY.....so I thought Iwould be quarantined or something.....same happened when i got to japan, except there they had thermal cameras and some lady checked my temperature......i just lied and said i felt fine

flight to japan was.....ok.....tried to sleep as much as i could because it was an overnight one....managed to get a bit in......the taxi trip to ｍｙ dorm took aaaaages, almost 2 hours i think. But yea Iwas quite surprised by the quality of the dorms.....nice and clean, lots of facilities (i am using the free internet downstairs atm because i need to buy a cord for my room)......the couple that run the house are really nice, theres a huge pile of stuff old tenants left behind and they just said help yourself to anything you want haha.....however there are a whole lot of rules to remember, makes me a bit nervous

what also makes me nervous is that i have to be up at 830 tomorrow morning to go get my alien card....i have been so reliant on someone else waking me up, i am a little scared if I will be able to do it......

anyway, I am quite tired, so i may go and have a bit of a sleep......I will have to ｔｒｙ and get this cord for my room internet asap so I can blog more frequently (not to mention msn)

Miss you all heaps already
Jono

Konnichiwa

Hey all,
This is just an introduction to my new blog for while I am in Japan. I will try to update it hopefully as much as possible, so if you are interested in how I am going check out here.

I will have my first official post up once I have arrived and I have my internet connected.

Love, Jono